Download Serfdom remained abolished in Austria and the

2. To what extent did liberals and nationalists achieve their goals in Europe
between 1815 and 1900?
A. Austria and the German Confederation
1. Multi-ethnic composition of Hapsburg Empire meant liberalism and nationalism were
potentially more dangerous than in other countries.
2. Liberalism and nationalism were often centered in universities in first half of the 19th
century
3. Carlsbad Diet (1819) called by Metternich
a. Carlsbad Decrees cracked down on liberalism in universities and drove liberalism
and nationalism underground.
b. Materials that advocated unification were censored
B. Prussia
1. Briefly after 1815, German liberals saw Prussia as a leader of German liberalism,
because of liberal reforms the gov’t enacted after its defeat by Napoleon.
 However, the reforms were designed to improve efficiency of gov’t rather than
promote liberalism
2. Prussian gov’t and its traditional ruling classes (Junkers) followed Metternich’s lead in
repressing liberal and nationalist movements.
C. Britain
1. The conservative Tories (who had defeated Napoleon) controlled the government.
2. Corn Laws of 1815: halted importation of cheaper foreign grains.
a. Benefited wealthy landowners at the expense of the rest of the English population.
b. Liberals were outraged but lacked necessary political influence to repeal the law
3. Habeas corpus repealed for first time in English history
4. “Peterloo Massacre” of 1819
a. Pro-liberal crowd listening to anti-Corn law rhetoric were attacked by police.
 Eleven people killed; 400 wounded (including 100 women)
b. The press was brought under more firm control and mass meetings were abolished.
5. By 1820 England seemed to be moving towards becoming a repressive authoritarian
state
D. France
1. France began this period as the most liberal large state in continental Europe
 Charter of 1814 established a constitutional monarchy under King Louis XVIII
2. “White Terror”: In 1815, thousands of former revolutionaries murdered by royalist
mobs
3. Elections in 1816 restored moderate royalists to power
4. A Spanish revolution was crushed: 1823, French troops were called by Concert of
Europe to restore another Bourbon ruler, Ferdinand VII.
 Signaled the triumph of conservatism.
5. In 1829, the heir to the throne was murdered and royalists used incident as pretense
to crack down on liberalism.
 King Louis XVIII shifted from moderate policies to conservative ones: reduction
of suffrage; censorship
E. Russia: Decembrist Uprising (1825)
1. Czar Alexander I (1801-1825) initially favored Enlightened despotism but after 1815
grew increasingly reactionary.
a. His death led to a power vacuum.
b. Younger brother, Nicholas, was next in line to the throne
2. Decembrists (junior military officers): upper-class opponents of the autocratic Russian
system of gov’t
a. Supported popular grievances among Russian society.
b. First upper-class revolt against Russia’s autocratic system of government
c. Sought to prevent Nicholas I’s assumption of the throne
d. Revolt eventually suppressed by Nicholas I
3. Nicholas became Europe’s most reactionary monarch
a. Russia became a police state with censorship, a secret police, (the Third Section)
and state-sponsored terrorism
b. No representative assemblies.
c. Education was limited and university curricula were carefully monitored.
d. Resulted in severe alienation of Russian intellectuals
4. Intellectuals developed two opposing camps in this period:
a. Slavolphiles believed that Russian village (the mir) culture was superior to that of
the West.
Westernizers wanted to extend the “genius of Russian culture” by industrializing and
setting up a constitutional gov’t.
F. Impact of Liberalism
1. Inspired various revolutionary movements of the early 19th century (see below)
2. Influenced revolutions in France in 1830 and 1848
3. Liberalism became embodied in over ten constitutions secured between 1815 and 1848
in the states of the German Confederation.
4. Influenced reform measures in Britain from the 1830s into 20th century.
5. Inspired German student organizations and impacted Prussian (and later German) life
in the late 19th century.
6. Resulted in some mild reforms in Russia in the early 20th century.
G. National revolutionary movements: 1815-1829
1. Spain (1820): revolution crushed by French troops authorized by Austria, Prussia, and
Russia (opposed by England who left the Congress System)
2. Naples (1820)
a. Incited to revolution by the activities of secret liberal-nationalist organizations
(“carbonari”) protesting the absolute rule of Ferdinand I of the Kingdom of the
Two Sicilies.
b. Congress authorized Austrian troops to end the revolution in the Kingdom of the
Two Sicilies.
3. Piedmont (1820): An attempted uprising was crushed by Austrian forces.
4. Greek Revolution (1821-1829)
a. Europeans concerned with the “Eastern Question”: Which European countries
would fill the void in the Balkans resulting from the decline of the Ottoman Empire?
b. England, France and Russia accepted Greece’s Christian appeal and joined into a
united force that defeated combined Turkish and Egyptian naval forces.
c. Treaty of Adrianople (1829): recognized Greek autonomy after Russia had
defeated the Turks in a war.
d. Significance: 3 out of 5 members of Concert of Europe supported nationalism
signaling a shift from a united conservatism to nationalistic self-interest.
H. Revolutions of 1830
1. Sparked by a wave of liberalism and nationalism against perceived conservative
oppression
2. France: July Revolution (1830)
a. King Charles X sought to impose absolutism by rolling back the constitutional
monarchy.
b. In response, a radical revolt in Paris forced the reactionary Charles X to abdicate his
throne.
c. Louis Philippe (r. 1830-1848) of Orleans family became the new king under a
constitutional monarchy; known as the “Bourgeoisie King”
d. France was now controlled by upper-middle class bourgeoisie bankers and
businessmen (in effect, a return to narrow liberalism of 1815)
e. Impact of July Revolution: sparked a wave of revolutions throughout Europe.
 “When France sneezes, the rest of Europe catches a cold”
3. Italy (1831-32)
a. Northern Italy—Modena, Parma, and Papal States—saw outbreaks of liberal
discontent.
b. Italian nationalists called for unification: led by Guiseppe Mazzini and his secret
revolutionary society—Young Italy.
c. The Carbonari: secret nationalist societies advocated force to achieve national
unification.
d. Austrian troops under Metternich’s enforcement of the Concert of Europe’s
philosophy crushed the disorganized revolutionaries.
e. Italian Risorgimento (“resurgence” of the Italian spirit) continued—Mazzini’s
dream.
4. The German states (1830-1833)
a. Carlsbad Decrees of 1819 had effectively restricted freedom throughout Germany.
b. The July Revolution inspired German university students and professors to lead
street demonstrations that forced temporary granting of constitutions in several
minor German states.
c. Yet, liberal and nationalistic desires for German unification were easily crushed by
Metternich’s domination of the German Confederation (Bund), and his influence on
Prussia.
5. Belgium (1830)
a. Belgium had been merged with Holland in 1815, but the upper classes of Belgium
resisted rule by the Dutch who had a different language, religion and economic life.
b. July Revolution inspired a revolt against Dutch rule in Brussels, led by students and
industrial workers.
c. Dutch army defeated and forced to withdraw from Belgium by Franco-British fleet.
d. A national congress wrote a liberal Belgian Constitution.
e. In 1839, the Great Powers declared the neutrality of Belgium.
6. Poland (1830-31)
a. Nicholas I crushed a nationalist uprising that challenged Russia’s historic
domination of Poland.
b. The Organic Statute of 1832 declared Poland to be an integral part of the Russian
empire.
7. Prussia established the Zollverein in 1834
a. Established an economic union of 17 German states which eliminated internal tariffs
and set the tone for greater union.
b. Free-trade idea was quite liberal
c. Austria excluded; the issue became a major point of contention between Prussia &
Austria
VII. Liberal Reform in England
A. 1820-1830
1. Young reform-minded Tories such as George Canning and Robert Peel gained influence
in the 1820s
 Allied with liberal Whig reformers
2. Reforms
a. Britain abandoned the Congress System in 1822, reformed prisons and the criminal
code, allowed membership in labor unions, and established efficient metropolitan
police force (“Bobbies”)
b. Religious Reform
 1673 Test Act was repealed (had banned non-Anglicans from office)
 Catholic Emancipation Act (1829) granted full civil rights to Roman Catholics.
B. Earl Grey, Whigs’ leader, was asked by the new king, George IV, to form a new
government (1830)
1. Whigs were heavily supported by the middle class
2. Reform Bill of 1832
a. Considered a milestone in British history
b. Spurred by the recent cholera epidemic
 People demanded a more responsive gov’t
c. Increased number of voters from 6% of population to 12%.
d. Eliminated underpopulated rural electoral districts (“rotten boroughs”) that
supported the House of Lords and replaced them with representation from new
manufacturing districts and cities that rose up from the industrial revolution.
e. Resulted in the supremacy of the House of Commons over the House of Lords in
Parliament.
3. Labor Reform:
a. Factory Act of 1833: no child labor under age 9
b. Slavery abolished in British West Indies, 1833
 Inspired by the work of William Wilberforce, an evangelical Christian who saw
slavery as a sin in the eyes of God.
c. Poor Law, 1834: required healthy unemployed workers to live in workhouses.
d. Mines Act, 1842: Prohibited child labor in mines
e. 10 Hour Act, 1847: limited work hours for women and children to 10 hours per day
4. Chartists: sought universal suffrage
a. The People’s Charter also demanded secret balloting, no property qualifications for
members of Parliament, salaries for members of Parliament, equal electoral districts
(end to “rotten boroughs”), and annual elections for Parliament.
b. Significance: although movement failed initially, all its ideas were adopted in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries.
5. Corn Laws repealed, 1846
a. Anti-Corn Law League, led by Richard Cobden and John Bright, argued for lower
food prices.
b. Partly a reaction to the 1840s Irish Potato Famine
6. Navigation Laws repealed, 1849
a. Officially ended official policy of mercantilism
b. Laws had been in effect since the days of Oliver Cromwell in the 1650s
7. Internal unrest in England was relatively small compared to other countries in Europe
during the rest of the 19th century.
a. People saw reform was possible without revolution
b. Queen Victoria (r. 1837-1901): her relatively peaceful reign was known as the
“Victorian Era”
VIII. Revolutions of 1848
A. Overview
1. Watershed political event of the 19th century.
2. 1848 revolutions influenced by nationalism, liberalism, and romanticism as well as
economic dislocation and instability.
3. Only Britain and Russia avoided significant upheaval
 Liberal reforms in Britain prevented serious popular discontent
 Conservative oppression in Russia prevented liberal revolution from taking hold
4. Neither liberals nor conservatives could gain a permanent upper hand.
5. Resulted in end of serfdom in Austria and Germany, universal male suffrage in France,
parliaments established in German states (although controlled by princes &
aristocrats), stimulated unification impulse in Prussia and Sardinia-Piedmont.
6. Last of the liberal revolutions dating back to the French Revolution
B. France
1. “February Revolution”
a. Working class and liberals were unhappy with King Louis Philippe, esp. his minister
Francois Guizot (who opposed electoral reform)
b. King was forced to abdicate in February, 1848
c. Second French Republic: led by liberal Alphonse Lamartine (allied with
bourgeoisie)
 Louis Blanc: socialist thinker who led working classes, demanded work for the
unemployed
 National workshops: created to provide work for the unemployed
d. Reforms
 Abolished slavery in the empire
 10 hr workday in Paris
 Abolished the death penalty
e. April elections for a new Constituent Assembly saw conflict between liberal
capitalists & socialists
 Workers sought a revolutionary republic after Blanc was dropped from the
assembly.
2. “June Days” Revolution, 1848
a. Cause: the gov’t closed national workshops
b. Marked beginning of class warfare in France between the bourgeoisie and the
working class
c. Workers sought war against poverty and redistribution of income.
 Barricades put up in streets to oppose gov’t forces (Hugo’s Les Miserables based
on this)
d. General Cavaignac: assumed dictatorial powers & crushed the revolt (10,000 dead)
 Temporary victory for conservatives
3. Election of 1848: Louis Napoleon defeated Cavaignac and became president of the
Republic
4. 1852: Louis Napoleon consolidated power and became Emperor Napoleon III of the
Second French Empire
C. Italy
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Italian nationalists and liberals sought to end foreign domination of Italy
1848, Milan, Lombardy and Venetia expelled Austrian rulers
Bourbon rulers in Sicily and Naples were defeated (Kingdom of Two Sicilies)
Sardinia-Piedmont declared war on Austria
Giuseppe Mazzini established the Roman Republic in 1849; he was protected by
Giuseppe Garibaldi and his forces
6. Pope Pius IX was forced to flee Rome
7. Failure of revolutions in Italy resulted in conservative victory
a. Austrian General Radetsky crushed Sardinia-Piedmont; regained Lombardy and
Venetia
b. French troops took back the Papal States
8. Causes for failure:
a. Rural people did not support the revolutions
b. Revolutionaries were not united (as was also the case in Germany)
c. Fear of radicals among moderates
d. Lack of leadership and administrative experience among revolutionaries.
D. Austria
1. Habsburg empire was vulnerable to the revolutionary challenge of nationalists
a. Ethnic minorities sought nationalistic goals: Hungarians, Slavs, Czechs, Italians,
Serbs, Croats, and others. (More non-Germans than Germans lived in the empire)
 Germans only 25% of the population
b. Austrian gov’t was reactionary; liberal institutions were non-existent.
c. Social reliance on serfdom doomed the masses of people to a life without hope.
d. “February Revolution” in France sparked rebellion for liberal reforms.
2. Hungary
a. Louis Kossuth, Hungarian (Magyar) leader, demanded independence
b. The Czechs in Bohemia as well as three northern Italian provinces declared
autonomy.
c. The Austrian empire collapsed
 Students and workers staged mass demonstrations
 Metternich fled the country
 Hungarian armies drove within sight of Vienna.
d. Hungarians were ultimately defeated
 The Austrian army regrouped and gained aid of Slavic minorities who resisted
Magyar invasion
 Austrian and Russian armies defeated the Hungarian army.
 Hungary would have to wait until 1866 for autonomy.
e. The revolution failed
 Revolutionary gov’t failed to govern effectively (as was the case in Italy)
 Habsburgs restored royal absolutism
3. Bohemia
a. Prague Conference (1848) developed notion of Austroslavism: constitution and
autonomy within Habsburg empire.
b. Pan-Slav Congress failed to unite Slavic peoples in the empire.
c. Austrian military ultimately occupied Bohemia and crushed the rebellion
4. Italian revolution against Austrian rule (see above)
E. German States
1. Revolutions inspired by 1848 revolutions in France
2. Liberals demanded constitutional government and a union or federation of German
states.
3. Frankfurt Parliament (May, 1848)
a. Liberal, nationalist/romantic leaders called for elections to a constituent assembly,
from all states in the German Bund, for the purpose of unifying the German states.
b. Sought war with Denmark to annex Schleswig & Holstein
 In response, Prussia declared war on Denmark
c. Frankfurt Parliament then presented constitution for a united German federation
 Selected Prussian King Frederick William IV as emperor
4. Prussian King Frederick William IV rejected the liberal constitution
1. Claimed “divine right” of kings
 Allegedly stated he would not “accept the crown from the gutter”
2. He imposed a conservative constitution that guaranteed royal control of the gov’t
(lasted until 1918).
5. Failure of Prussia and Austria to support unification movement resulted in its collapse.
6. Frederick William’s attempt to subsequently unify Germany ended in failure.
a. Austria demanded Prussian allegiance to the Bund (that Austria dominated)
 In effect, this would have compromised Prussian sovereignty
b. “Humiliation of Olmutz”: Prussia dropped the plan to unify Germany, leaving
Austria as the dominant German state in the Bund.
 Prussia would seek revenge in 1866 (Austro-Prussian War)
F. Evaluation of Revolutions of 1848
1. Neither liberal or nationalist revolutionaries nor those of
conservatism were able to maintain their dominance between 1789
and 1848.
a. Liberalism, nationalism, socialism and democracy made some
gains but were largely kept in check by conservatives.
b. Many of the revolutions were spontaneous movements that could
not effectively maintain popular support.
c. Revolutions were largely urban movements.
 Conservative landowners and peasants essentially thwarted the
revolutions
d. The middle classes, who led the revolutions, came to fear the
radicalism of their working class allies (e.g. Louis Blanc in France)
e. Division among nationalist ethnic groups in the Austrian Empire
helped destroy the revolutionary movements against the empire.
2. Positive aspects
a. Universal male suffrage introduced in France.
b. Serfdom remained abolished in Austria and the German states.
c. Parliaments were established in Prussia and other German states
although dominated by princes and aristocrats.
d. Prussia and Sardinia-Piedmont emerged with new energy to achieve
unification within the next two decades.
3. The Revolutions of 1848-49 brought to a close the era of liberal
revolutions that had begun in France in 1789.
a. Reformers and revolutionists learned that planning and organization
was necessary for success.
 Rational argument and revolution would not always assure
success.
b. Age of Romanticism gave way to an Age of Realism.